Square Testing 'Pickup' App to Speed Up Ordering of Takeout

Tuesday February 25, 2014 4:44 PM PST by Jordan Golson

Square is testing a new app called Square Pickup that allows users to order and pay for takeout food. The app is currently in beta testing with select San Francisco restaurants, according to Priceonomics.

Instead of calling a restaurant to place a pickup order, users can just make the purchase with the Square Pickup App. The app is loaded with the restaurant’s menu. Just choose what you want, pay with Square, and then pick up your food when it’s ready. The app is currently in beta testing for both iOS and Android.

Square is not the only big company innovating with restaurants and in-app purchasing -- earlier this month, OpenTable began testing a feature that would have guests paying for restaurant checks in the OpenTable app.

Square is processing billions of dollars worth of credit card transactions annually and has an extensive point-of-sale system aimed at restaurants and other small businesses.

Top Rated Comments

Awesome. Even less social interaction. Who needs to talk to people, or go to a restaurant, when you can just text your order, pick it up, and wander home to your computer for Facebook "social fun".

Sometimes tech convenience can lead to unforeseen consequences, just look at the [lack of] social skills with the younger generation. It's an HR nightmare. Pretty soon, we'll regress to grunting with texting, who needs to talk?

I think you missed the broader implications of my comment, as it wasn't just about ordering take-out. Forest from the trees, and all. :)

Based on your comment and your signature, I couldn't help but think about the "I Robot" stories where in the future people can't even imagine being physically in the presence of another person. Brings back some great memories of reading science fiction that now is gradually becoming science fact.

This could be very cool. Phone calls are a crappy way of conveying information - I'd love the ability to type exactly what I want, have them read exactly what I want, and then be able to see the exact time it'll be ready.

That it handles the payment too is just icing on the cake.

Next they need to do what TacoBell is doing and have my order automatically be placed when I'm at the right distance from the store for it to be finished right as I arrive.

The app does look cool, and I'm a big fan of mobile food pickup, but that's because it already exists. And the only downside now is the number of services out there to choose from. There are certain restaurants exclusive to Grubhub vs Seamless vs Eat24 .... This will just further divide the market and create another format that ultimately worsens the experience for the consumer having a segmented "menu". It kills me that Grubhub and Seamless have merged yet maintain separate apps. There is overlap with some restaurants on both services, but its screwy because some have cheaper delivery charges or none at all. It just seems a pointless to have all these services. It reminds me of TV and providers and having exclusive rights to certain channels or networks. It doesn't help the consumer!

The fact is, I've never in my entire life had a meaningful social interaction with someone taking my food order!

Most of the time, if you so much as started to, the person's manager would come over and start prodding them to "stop holding up the line"!

The only real purpose of that particular interaction is to detail your order and receive a total price for it -- something done much more efficiently by computer.

People go to restaurants and dine-in, in the first place, as a social thing. Even if you're just eating there by yourself, you're probably doing so, vs. eating at home, so you can take in some different sights and do a bit of "people watching" while you eat.

There are definitely some concerns one could have about social media, the proliferation of smartphones, and so forth causing society to communicate in person less than we should. But this application only addresses a very specific interaction, designed to accomplish a single goal -- and improves on the "old way".

I think you missed the broader implications of my comment, as it wasn't just about ordering take-out. Forest from the trees, and all. :)

Based on your comment and your signature, I couldn't help but think about the "I Robot" stories where in the future people can't even imagine being physically in the presence of another person. Brings back some great memories of reading science fiction that now is gradually becoming science fact.

Seriously, great observation on my signature and my modest opinion. 'Course I have nothing wrong with technology, yet as a 37 year old I'm in between the non-tech savvy older generations and extremely tech savvy younger generations. Tech should [ideally] be an extension of oneself, not in lieu of human contact and thus humanity. The H.R. stories I hear from friends interviewing college grad's who text, don't make eye contact and lack the skills to eloquently verbalize why they would be an asset to xxx company in an interview is astonishing. The pendulum always swings, I hope for humanity's sake it finds a resting place in the middle. :)

Lack of social skills with the younger generation has less to do with tech and more to do with parenting. I would love to have an app like the one mentioned in the article so like others say I can mull over the menu and place my order the way I want it and pay for it. Does not mean I will goto the restaraunt and grunt while showing my phone with a picture of the order so they know its mine.:rolleyes:

Have you, yourself, noticed a social decline with person-to-person interaction be it over the phone or actually in person verbally communicating in your day to day life? What about your own communication with others?

Awesome. Even less social interaction. Who needs to talk to people, or go to a restaurant, when you can just text your order, pick it up, and wander home to your computer for Facebook "social fun".

Sometimes tech convenience can lead to unforeseen consequences, just look at the [lack of] social skills with the younger generation. It's an HR nightmare. Pretty soon, we'll regress to grunting with texting, who needs to talk?

Lack of social skills with the younger generation has less to do with tech and more to do with parenting. I would love to have an app like the one mentioned in the article so like others say I can mull over the menu and place my order the way I want it and pay for it. Does not mean I will goto the restaraunt and grunt while showing my phone with a picture of the order so they know its mine.:rolleyes:

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